(Washington) Five people were killed and at least six people injured Monday morning in Louisville by a gunman who was shot, police in the main city of the State of Kentucky announced during a press briefing.
“It is confirmed that five people have been killed” and “at least six people have been taken to hospital” including a police officer, a police official said on American television, the shooting having taken place in a bank according to witnesses.
A witness told local channel WHAS11 of seeing a man with an “assault rifle” open fire.
Some survivors managed to find refuge in the safe room, said a CNN reporter.
The local press reported a massive police presence in the area.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced on going there immediately.
City Mayor Craig Greenberg called on residents to avoid the area.
Another witness, Debbie, told local channel WDRB that she saw a victim on the ground in front of a hotel when she stopped at a red light while driving her car.
It was then that shots rang out. “I scampered off,” she said. “When I turned around, I saw that one of the windows in the bank had been smashed. »
The police presence was quickly massive, she describes. “They were coming from everywhere. The police were coming out of their cars with assault rifles.”
On March 27, a person opened fire at a private elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, killing three 9-year-old children and three employees before being shot dead by police.
The United States pays a very heavy price for the spread of firearms in its territory and the ease with which Americans have access to them.
The country has more personal weapons than people: one in three adults owns at least one weapon and almost one in two adults lives in a household with a weapon.
The consequence of this proliferation is the very high rate of firearm deaths in the United States, unmatched by that of other developed countries.
Around 49,000 people died from gunshot wounds in 2021, compared to 45,000 in 2020, which was already a record year. This represents more than 130 deaths per day, more than half of which are suicides.
